A Digital Strategy
Schools Education Roundtable
Wednesday 9 November 2016
Possible focal questions
Complementing the Digital Working Group: Key Themes and Directions discussion paper, arising
from the cross-sectoral meeting held on 9 September 2016, are the following focal questions:
1. Given the wide-ranging support for a cross-sectoral schools network based on a shared
digital space, how may stakeholders best work together to enable this?
2. What are the key issues and challenges that may need to be considered?
3. What should be the next practical steps in the developmental process?
Digital Working Group
KEY THEMES AND DIRECTIONS
Draft report and discussion paper arising from the meeting held on
9 September 2016 at the Department of Education and Training
Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1
Policy context ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Key questions ............................................................................................................................................. 1
The power of networks............................................................................................................................. 2
A broad view of networks ........................................................................................................................ 2
Opportunities and challenges.................................................................................................................. 3
Collaboration and trust ........................................................................................................................ 3
Scale and sustainability ........................................................................................................................ 4
Digital design – the human side .............................................................................................................. 5
Design and delivery – four stages ............................................................................................................ 5
Recommendations and actions................................................................................................................ 6
Your feedback ........................................................................................................................................... 6
Appendix – meeting participants ............................................................................................................ 7
Introduction
The Digital Working Group meeting was organised following discussions between the Department
of Education and Training and the Great Schools Network.
The purpose of the meeting, which involved an extraordinarily diverse mix of participants (listed in
the Appendix), was to exchange ideas on how new digital services and tools may further support
speedy and effective knowledge sharing among schools and co-creation of educational innovations.
The meeting was a profound experience, enabling a rich understanding and conceptualisation of a
digital strategy. The intent of this draft report and discussion paper is to provide an outline and
development of the invaluable ideas and suggestions that the participants shared at the meeting.
Policy context
The best education systems in the world are highly networked.
The Education State
The Education State, the Government Schools Funding Review (the ‘Bracks Review’) and school,
community and stakeholder networks across the sectors may serve to significantly improve student
outcomes. The Education State includes the following student learning and development targets:

Learning for life. Students excelling in reading, maths, science and the arts and
developing strong critical and creative thinking skills

Happy, healthy and resilient kids. Such as developing confidence, social skills and
healthy life habits and taking part in physical activity

Breaking the link between a student’s background and how well they do at school.
In its response to the Bracks Review, the Government affirms that the shared goal of improving
these outcomes unites students, schools and the government, Catholic and independent sectors.
Key questions
In this context of collaboration and outcomes, David Howes suggested a set of key questions:




What are the real opportunities for improving student learning?
How can digital technology contribute to these opportunities?
What are the gaps between what is available now and what is possible?
How can we overcome these gaps? What are the future barriers?
As a response to these questions, the following comprises a discussion of the main ideas
and insights shared at the meeting. These ideas may powerfully inform what could emerge
as a collaborative, inclusive and cross-sectoral digital platform for school networking.
PAGE 1
The power of networks
In developing networks, supported by the best digital tools, people act on the connections and
relationships that may impact on their work, their leadership and the better outcomes that they’re
seeking to achieve. Among the features of schools’ and stakeholders’ network practice are:

Connections that make the difference. A school’s improvement efforts are accelerated
and student outcomes boosted by tapping into networks. New ideas and boldly ambitious
improvements in education are also more likely to be co-developed and prototyped

The key challenges facing schools (such as the deeper personalisation of learning)
that are addressed through networks of strong, diverse relationships. This involves
people working together across schools, sectors, geographic areas, stakeholder groups and
demographic differences. It includes how students’ needs, interests and goals are addressed
in the round by teachers, students, parents and others working in a joined-up way

Educational leadership and innovation built through relationships. Direction,
alignment and commitment in service of an educational vision and student success in
school, learning and life are created through relationships between people working on
shared challenges. Principals, teachers, students, parents, school council and board
members and others – across the sectors – contribute to this collaborative leadership.
Networked education may amount to a veritable revolution, over time, in how schooling is
organised and student learning, engagement and achievement are optimised. At present, however,
there is no inclusive digital platform to fully support diverse stakeholders and schools across the
sectors to share knowledge about and co-create innovations in, for example, personalised learning.
A broad view of networks
The work of the Great Schools Network highlights three principles of effective school networks:
1.
Collaborative and cross-sectoral. Better knowledge-sharing and collaboration among
schools within and across the government, Catholic and independent sectors
2.
Open, inclusive and multi-stakeholder. Supportive of strong learning relationships and
social capital among principals, teachers, students, parents and community partners
3.
Schools-based and organically developed. Fluid, flexible and participatory networks –
co-owned and co-developed by schools through their own self-governance – that make it
easier for schools to connect and co-create best practice, innovations and improvements.
Digital tools are central to achieving all of this. These tools can enable faster access to, and the
systematic sharing of, ideas, knowledge and best practice among multiple, diverse audiences.
However, there is a gap between what is available now and what is possible. In conclusion, there
needs to be enhanced online support for speedily facilitating cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder
and school community-based opportunities for knowledge sharing and joint work.
PAGE 2
Opportunities and challenges
Digital tools that enable distant and diverse actors to readily access and contribute to each other’s
knowledge and experience can break open prodigious possibilities for performance improvement.
But a collaborative culture that supports diverse voices does not spring up from technology alone.
If we want a digital platform to truly be a people's platform, we will need to make it so. This
requires deep understanding of the opportunities and how to use them and the challenges that may
affect progress and how to deal with them. Challenges are essentially opportunities to improve.
As a simple and systematic way to categorise the different challenges, to inform the thinking about
the specific kinds of digital tools and services that may be required, two headings are used:
1.
Collaboration and trust. Networks, partnerships and collaborative arrangements signify
the limitations of traditional structures and techniques in improving outcomes and solving
problems. Effectiveness in these broad contexts is founded on relationships of trust
2.
Scale and sustainability. It is important to understand why some past digital initiatives
could not be scaled up. If seeking to meet user needs without really planning for scale and
sustainability, the obvious risks comprise narrowly focused or short-lived ‘solutions’.
COLLABORATION AND TRUST
The first set of challenges deals with issues specific to collaboration and trust, including how the
partners achieve a shared vision of a better digital service. Among these key challenges are:

The importance of a shared moral purpose, which appeals to the innate sense held by
diverse stakeholders of what is right and worth doing and contributes to the greater good.
A shared moral purpose pivots on a shared digital platform to support the equitable access
of all schools to opportunities for improvement and innovation. This also builds trust

How to make a digital platform simple to use and yet as inclusive as possible. It may
be built for diverse stakeholders and engagement at multiple scales. The obvious challenge:
the scope of collaboration includes principals, teachers, students, parents and community
stakeholders and participation at local, regional, state-wide, national and global levels

How cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration may be supported on a
digital platform, including the specific features of tools and services that may assist:
o
o
o
o
o
Schools, educators, students, parents and communities in sharing ideas and
shaping personalised, networked and joined-up models of learning
Schools across the government, Catholic and independent sectors in not only
sharing knowledge but co-creating learning tools, strategies and content
Schools, health agencies, businesses, community organisations, local government
and sporting clubs that are building partnerships with each other
Schools in regional and rural locations in building clusters and networks
Collaboration among schools across geography, culture and language
PAGE 3

How reciprocity – the practice of exchanging with others for mutual benefit – is
built into a digital service. Given that time is a precious resource, readily leveraged
reciprocity is a key to building strong connections and social capital. Reciprocity also
means that people may engage with each other to develop and expand the impact of
intellectual property, not just protect it, and to co-create great public goods

Sharing is a cultural question of how we interact, not only a technical problem or a
time issue. A challenge is how time and energy can be relocated, including through digital
tools, from less to more effective and efficient ways to share. But it is not only a matter
of time. It is also a matter of how tools may help to address fears (such as losing control),
egos, silos and other barriers that get in the way of widespread sharing and collaboration

How student voice and participation are built into a digital platform. Student voice
allows students to engage, participate, lead and learn (VicSRC, 2016). As a model, iNet
Australia provided opportunities for students and educators to participate in online
conferences on learning and to access innovative practice through online case studies

Being strategic about communication. It’s the lifeblood of networks. A communication
strategy may contribute to transparency, trust, mutual learning and improved outcomes.
SCALE AND SUSTAINABILITY
The second set of challenges deals with two critical aspects of all projects: scale and sustainability.
Scaling up initiatives is also an important strategic issue for funding bodies. Challenges include:

An integrated digital platform, ‘plugged in’ to existing tools, which can be easily
scaled up. These include Facebook, Facebook at Work, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slack, Yammer,
Sprinklr, Bitbucket and Buffer. Such a platform may support personalisation. Users get
frustrated when content is not personalised and related to their needs. A challenge: tools
that place the user at the centre of a collaborative digital experience. There is also an
emerging need: sharing virtual objects as well as physical artifacts through 3D printing

Producing a well-designed, easy-to-use digital platform is only the first step. It then
has to be promoted well. People need to have confidence that using it will bring tangible
benefits to schools and learners, which is central to an effective communication strategy

A digital service needs a governance and management structure that optimises the
opportunities to jointly lead, plan and support the initiative, coordinate resources, develop
communication strategies, moderate discussions and handle logistical and administrative
issues. The collective impact research refers to this core work as a ‘backbone organisation’.
Its absence is a major reason why a vast collaborative potential, including across
the sectors, and its associated impact on learning outcomes may not be realised

How to support a backbone organisation such as the Great Schools Network that
may help to grow the cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder movement in education
PAGE 4

Cyber security and intellectual property. Security-by-design is built into a system. It
may protect and sustain the platform and secure participants’ intellectual property and
sensitive information, without security measures constraining a platform’s efficacy

Scale and sustainability may require new levels and new types of investment. The
challenge: an organisational model that can attract a diverse set of partners and funding
sources and accommodate an innovative approach to digital design. A related challenge:
letting grantees steer the work, not just purchasing a particular solution in advance.
Digital design – the human side
What matters is the design of a digital service that meets users’ needs (the things that the people
who will use the technology may really need and value), beginning with an understanding of:






The key challenges specific to collaboration and trust and scale and sustainability
Who the various users of the digital tools and services may be
The specific needs of the diverse users, including principals, teachers, parents and
students, not just ‘typical’ or some users
Digital tools with the greatest likely impact on student learning outcomes
Leveraging and complementing existing digital tools, not reinventing the wheel
An iterative design process that is driven by users’ needs and practice.
What may these factors mean for digital services design?
Digital transformation is driven as much by the evolution of collaboration as by technology. Service
design is, therefore, not simply a technological exercise. It is the activity of working out how lots
of isolated sources of knowledge and experience, provided by large numbers of people in
different schools and across the sectors, may fit together to better meet user needs.
Design and delivery – four stages
What may assist with efforts to co-create and run great digital services to better meet user needs?
The four stages in the federal Digital Transformation Office (DTO) service design and delivery
process, intended to develop services that are simpler, clearer and faster for all users, include:
1.
Discovery. Researching and identifying user needs. The Discovery stage, which may
challenge any preconceived ideas, may be completed when we know things such as:
a. The scope of the service that we want to build and how it meets user needs
b. The team of people and the stakeholders we need to move on to Alpha
c. How we’ll measure success and what a successful service would look like
2.
Alpha. Building prototypes in code to explore different ways we might be able to meet user
needs. Exploring multiple ideas and testing with a small group of users or stakeholders
PAGE 5
3.
Beta. Defining a minimum viable product from the successful prototype in Alpha. Building
this as an accessible and secure service. Using trials and feedback to improve the service
4.
Live. The work doesn’t stop once the service is live. Iteratively improving the service,
reacting to new needs and demands and meeting targets set during its development.
The link is at https://www.dto.gov.au/standard/service-design-and-delivery-process/. As well, the
DTO design principles are located at https://www.dto.gov.au/standard/design-principles/.
Recommendations and actions
The significant insights in this report may inform the next chapter of digital transformation and
networked education. To move the work forward, the recommendations and actions are to:
1.
Establish a small team to progress the work and workshop the next practical steps,
including the Discovery stage of a design and delivery process
2.
Consult with the Department of Education and Training to consider further the possible
partnerships in developing a digital platform
3.
Identify and develop a digital business model, informed by the opportunities and
challenges outlined in this report. Prepare a technical paper that includes the model
4.
Explore sources of support and funding for the digital platform and backbone organisation
5.
Form a governing board that has a cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder membership.
Your feedback
Further thoughts and suggestions are invited. Questions that may serve as foci for your
feedback are:



Does the paper include the most important ideas and suggestions?
Is there anything that needs to be clarified, amended or added?
Are the recommendations of value for developing a way forward?
Prepared by the Great Schools Network Project Team, 7 October 2016
PAGE 6
Appendix – meeting participants
The Digital Working Group attendees at the meeting, which was held at the Department of
Education and Training on 9 September 2016, were:
1.
Nicholas Abbey, Acting CEO, School Governance Network, President, Macleod College
council and President, Baltara School council
2.
Irene Anderson, Manager, Digital Content, Independent Schools Victoria
3.
Andrew Baylis, Director, Learning and Research, Melbourne Grammar School
4.
Phil Brown, Executive Officer, Country Education Project
5.
Fiona Campbell, Events and Communications Officer, Victorian Student Representative
Council (VicSRC)
6.
Colin Chapman, Head of Learning – Technology, Caroline Chisholm Catholic College, and
State Reviewer, Systems Engineering, VCAA
7.
Kerry Clayton, Principal, Featherbrook P-9 College
8.
Patricia Cowling, formerly Principal, Genazzano FCJ College
9.
Daryl English, Assistant Principal, Systems Leadership/21st Century Learning, Point Cook
College
10. Stephen Fraser, Executive Director, Implementation, Department of Education and
Training (DET)
11. Stuart Gonsal, Director, Wolf Interactive Digital Agency
12. David Howes, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Schools, DET
13. Luke Kerr, Program Director, Real Time Learning, Mornington Peninsula schools cluster
14. Gail McHardy, Executive Officer, Parents Victoria
15. Michael Phillips, Principal, Ringwood Secondary College
16. Allan Shaw, Principal, The Knox School
17. Carl Stevens, consultant (and formerly Manager, Policy and Research, Catholic Education
Office)
18. William Wilson, student, Yarram Secondary College, and VicSRC Executive member.
PAGE 7
PAGE 8